Corporate credit unions are united on a cooperative basis in the Central Credit Union (US Central Credit Union). Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. Like the credit cooperatives, credit unions form associations of a higher level, which are called corporate credit unions. Cooperation between credit unions, how they would not have been named, took place always, from the moment when the movement moved outside one credit union. Credit unions of the open type are still controlled by their members, but at the same time provide services to people who are not its members (external customers). Credit unions appeared in England in the 19th century. In 1844 a group of workers from Rochdale established the first cooperative. Standards by which credit unions build their work do not coincide with the standards and regulations of consumer cooperation of the usual type. To increase the number of credit unions in 1979 was adopted the corresponding law that serves as the legal basis of their activity. Credit union as a consumer cooperative operates on the principles of equality of all its members.